(Webmaster's note: Peggy took a trip to Cleveland this time. Most of the story is at the end of the pictures.)
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1591-(left) More of downtown Cleveland 1592-(right) Shot between the Rock 'N Roll and the Science Museums looking at the big boat. |
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1593-I would have gone over to buy a tee-shirt and look at it, but it was closed. |
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1594-This exhibit was only $9.00 but seemed more for a hands on for children to play with the exhibits. Had I had any of my grands with me it would have been fun, but since I didn't have them I didn't go in. It just didn't seem interesting to me. |
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1595-(left)The trash floating in along the water paths was
really bad. I thought they should clean up the place a bit. I thought it was
dirtier than the Gulf and the Mexicans use it as a sewer system…it didn't
smell badly but I wouldn't want to accidentally fall in. 1596-(right)It really is sad that we can't keep our waterways and lands clean. I truly believe we should actually initiate those litter fines to the maximum |
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1597-(left) The big boat at pier 1598-(right) This side of the water path seemed a little cleaner, I just hope those fishermen know that the fish they catch could have been over on the dirty side. Or maybe they just fish as a sport and don't eat them—still they have to touch them, yuck! |
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1600-This is the back of the Rock 'N Roll Museum. (Webmaster's note: For those of you in Rio Linda, it's supposed to look like a giant record player.) |
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1602-I stopped to watch these young guys do those fancy tricks
on their bikes without helmets or padding. I would have wrecked out. They were
good, even for amateurs. The guy in the picture is actually in the air a foot or
two off of the cement but it doesn't show that really well. |
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1603-A place to leisurely stroll along the water way enjoying the sunshine. Ohio only has about 80 real days of sunshine a year. The weather people are very inventive about it—they forecast partly cloudy, partly sunny, intermittent sun shine, filtered sun, and my personal favorite occasional sun. When/if the sun shines all of Ohio falls outdoors and basks in it like fat lizards on hot rocks. The sidewalks are alive with gray haired hover-rounds, lovers hand in hand, oldsters with walkers, teens bouncing off of skate boards, and baby carriages. |
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1604-(left) Boats loading up what looked to be rocks or other
organic materials to be freighted off to exotic ports like—Detroit or Erie. 1605-(right) Lake Erie and a sea wall |
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1606-(left) This is the USS Cod a real US submarine from the WW II days. I thought it would be
interesting to visit as I have seen the U boat Chicago has belonging to the Germans of WW II up in Chicago. But they
weren't open. I was disappointed in this believe it or not. I was looking forward to going on board. It is open from
May to September only. Also the Woman's Air and Space Museum was closed too. 1607-(right) And a big fence to keep me out. |
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Okay, I went to Cleveland with an excited attitude of going to see the Rock 'N Roll Museum or whatever and have a grand
adventure. Sorry, Cleveland, but it was a dud. I was really disappointed because it was closed. The Rock 'N Roll Museum
wanted to confiscate my personal belongings. It seems in this day and age backpacks, large purses, etc. are to be
checked in and absolutely no cameras are allowed. Some of the exhibits were given with the idea that they could not
be reproduced, photographed, or video in any manner, hence they require you to check in all such equipment and leave
it with them. There was nothing there I wanted to see that bad that I wanted to risk losing my stuff. This land of Ohio hasn't been very nice to me. It is a pretty place, lovely rolling timbered hills, abundant wildlife, and meandering rivers, but I have had a heck of a time here. The first week I got here they gave me the stomach flu. That was a real moving experience. First my nursing license was held up. It seems that in Ohio you have to present your college transcripts for a temporary license. Okay, I don't mind doing that as I am not ashamed of my 3.75 gpa, which unfortunately dropped from a 4.0 this last degree (I have blamed it on my old age and slowing down a bit and I got a B in a class—woe is me). But I thought I had everything in and I called so much I actually had a contact person at the Ohio board of nursing. I started working on this license the end of January and their website assured me it took 10 to 14 business days to get a temporary. By March I am here and no license. I called them again and that is when I found out about the college transcript requirement. They decided to make this a requirement the first of February and my contact person, Karen, just found out about it 'last Friday' which was IN March. I told her I thought it was unfair that they required this without posting it on their website first, or even telling the staff about it! She checked with the legal department and THEY said that was their requirement and if I wanted a license I would have to provide my college transcripts before they would issue a temporary. Okay—I overnighted checks to my colleges to expedite this. I waited till the end of the week and called again. They insisted they hadn't received it—I lost it and told her I didn't believe her. I told her because I had had so much trouble I had sent to them not only my original nursing college transcripts but my latest college transcripts from my BSN degree. I told her I did not believe that 2 different colleges in 2 different Kansas towns would have singled me out for no postal service and not have gotten my transcripts to them, especially since I followed up on it and called to verify they had been sent. Finally Karen went to 'get my file' I was on hold all of 2 minutes and guess what—both of my transcripts were in the file. So I was nice and asked please, could I have a license. Karen said they would have to 'talk' about it. I was blown away. I told her I thought they needed to get me a license today but the girl who trips it over to approved on the Internet was on break and so she didn't know. Do you know they waited until 1645 until they approved my license so I could download it off of the Internet? Now how mean was that? I still think if you want to make a change in your requirements that is okay—I don't have a problem with that. I have a problem with not posting it first on the website or telling all of your staff so they can get the information they need to jump through the right hoops. I never got any checks sent to me all of March. My checks got 'lost'. I have my mail forwarded to Melissa and she sends me the good stuff, the bills I pay online, and the junk gets tossed. None of my checks the company tried to send me got through. I am still having problems with mail service here. I take stuff to the US post office and pay for priority mail (that's $4.50 a pop if you need to know) and they don't send it. I have over $2000 in expenses my company will reimburse me for and I keep sending receipts to—who knows where, because they aren't getting them in Tennessee. My company finally FedX'd me a check to get it to me. My next gig is in Indianapolis and the manager is trying to send me some papers so I can get credentialed to work in that hospital and I haven't gotten it. A pigeon service would work better I think—mercy, even ML mail service is topnotch compared to this one. For some reason I have landed in Pepsi country—maybe that is what is wrong with these people. They need a good swig of COKE!! There are no coke vending machines in the hospitals—how sick is that? I go to the grocery store and I can't find ERA here—don't they sell it? I like ERA and I can't find any. I go to the store and get the Coke and have to lug it up 22 steps to my happy little home. Speaking of which—I pay or rather my company pays $2220 a month for me to live here. I get a one bedroom apartment, I bath, 2 TVs, high speed Internet, free basic cable, free local phone service, 1-car garage, a housekeeper once every two weeks, and all of the regular stuff in a home. My dryer was stopped up—they thought it might be actually frozen shut on the rooftop since it was so cold and snowy here when I got here, then it thawed and it still was taking 4 hours to dry a load of towels and it was plugged up with lint/insulation. I get a $900 bill from the apartment complex—which I told them no thank you and let the people I contract with have it. I get a $50 cable bill, I told the contract people they could have that back too. I spent the first week getting lost just going to work. This place is built around the hills and valleys and nothing is straight. If you get too far over you are headed the wrong direction before you know it. And it took me forever to figure out if I wanted to go north I have to go south to do it. When I flew home over Easter week, I called my contract people for a concierge service. I have one of those too. I called the Wednesday before my Friday flight to get a cab to the Akron-Canton Airport. They were to pick me up at 0800. I looked out the window before going to bed and saw the big white flakes falling down out of the sky to the ground littering it in cold stuff. I also listened to the weather on the news and knew that there was a storm headed our way. I was considering calling for an earlier cab, but decided I should make it just fine because if anything the weather would delay flights not get them off the ground faster. At 0815 I am calling my concierge service asking just where is my taxi? They got on the phone and were given all kinds of reasons why the taxi wasn't here—the weather, the roads, the sudden calls for rides, just so busy—okay I had my call in 2 days reserved! I know they operate 24 hours a day—looks like one of the cabbies would have noticed the cold white stuff falling on the ground and said some thing to them about it. Then the concierge service was getting mad because the taxi people were getting rude to them—like that is acceptable. They tried to get me another taxi service but it would be 20 minutes before any one could get here. The guy finally arrived but he went up the hill to another apartment complex and was calling to see where I was—so I gave him directions—I was the woman who was standing in the blowing snow steaming mad at the end of 60 Hunt Club Drive. He told me it was because of the roads that he was late, and the weather, and being busy, and he got lost, and he was sorry. If I would have had time I would have called for a different cab, but I went with him because of time. This was the nastiest, dirtiest cab I have ever been in. It was dirt in the floors. All of that plastic stuff along the door posts that hide the seat belt contraptions was gone. There were so many cigarette burns in the back of the seats it was pock-marked. I had to brush the seat out before I set down and was afraid I would end up with bubble gum stuck on my butt. He takes me across town—in this cab that made this phiff-phiff sound, telling me about this really BAD weather on really BAD roads at 70 miles per hour in a 60 miles an hour zone. The Ohio Department of Transportation must have waved their magic wand because there was NO snow on the roads—I couldn't even see any ice patches. I saw snow plows on the roads, blades down and working hard. He finally stopped talking to me because I think he was very aware I was really, really, really mad. And I am not a lady when I am really, really, really mad. After he got the idea and stopped talking to me, he called someone and started talking to them advising them not to pay more than $75 for some used car part, driving one handed in a cab that was missing out. I thought a couple of times if it stopped I would have to get out and push. Then he had the nerve to charge me $42.45 or $45.45 of which I gave me $42.50 or $45.50 and he kept my nickel!! He didn't even bother to ask if I wanted my change. I certainly had no desire to tip him…even a nickel! I did not have any time to waste in the airport. I was planning to eat breakfast there while I was waiting on my flight because of all of the added security it takes so long to get through the check points. For some reason they always pull me over and almost do a stripsearch of me. I guess I look guilty. (Or maybe they still are talking about that time up in O'Hare when Mom and I got hauled down to security over Matt's lighter that looked like a gun I was trying to smuggle home.) I had really looked forward to going home. I was excited to see how much Miss Amelia had grown and all of my kids and grands. I was so tired on the way home. I kept going until on Sunday I couldn't go anymore and spent until Thursday sicker than a dog. I missed seeing Uncle Dean and all of the relatives. I didn't want to go near them as he doesn't need anything like what I had, let alone Mom or any of the others. So my time at home wasn't as much fun as I had hoped. I also had to cancel several dinner dates I had planned with various friends. My lawn looked crappy but I couldn't get the lawn mower started…and didn't care. Matt always has to come over and start it the first time for me every year. My neighbors are going to mow my lawn for me…for money. My time at home went way too fast and I was headed back here. To get to Wichita I was scheduled to fly through Atlanta, Ga and I really wanted to fly through O'Hare and I love that airport. You see the strangest things there. When I get to Atlanta another storm had worked its magic and I forgot my coat, but that was okay. I will live, shivering, but alive. People were all pissed off because their flights were delayed, calling the clerks names, and vowing not to fly THAT airline again. Gee, don't they stop to think that if it is not safe to fly then they should stay on the ground??? It's not the airline's fault that this big winter blast decided to blow down from the Arctic North. So I watched people, you know what a great people watcher I am. Who told that obese woman in the pink hat with the bright too-tight orange tee-shirt with blue and brown striped capris and blue sparkly flip-flops she could leave the house looking like that? Or the curly headed pimply kid with his pants down to his thighs and grey striped boxers hanging out? I discovered if I would have been routed through O'Hare I would have been stuck there for hours and hours. As it was I was back in Akron about 0200. I have a fancy alarm clock here, provided by my service, that has 3 alarms and I am afraid if I push the wrong button I won't get up. I have been using a little travel alarm that I could sleep through if tired enough. So I grabbed one of my alarm clocks from home with a single obnoxious alarm on it. I set it and went to bed—I had to be at work at 0600. I forgot about the time change and I was an hour late to work—oh gee, my bad. Do I look like a morning person? For some reason they think I need to be at work at 0600 every day I work—they are killing me. I am trying to get to bed early, but I lay down and my eyes fly open and I lay there tossing and turning. I have taken some Benadryl to help me sleep and I end up wide awake with a dry mouth. I have 4 weeks left in Ohio. Then I go home again for almost a week. I have to be in Indianapolis on June 1st—provided I am credentialed to work. I have to be re-fingerprinted for the state of Texas, it seems I was smudged. I have been fingerprinted so many times for each nursing license you would think I would be first on their hit list. I haven't gotten to do that much sightseeing here since the weather has been so nasty. I was really looking forward to a discovery of Cleveland and was so disappointed it in. I think I will try to the south and see if I can venture into Amish country. And that is the way it is…Peg, Girl Adventurer |
